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Daninplymouth

Wheel weight rota blitz, pro race 1.2

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On 10/13/2018 at 8:17 AM, Daninplymouth said:

Hi does anyone know the weight for the rota blitz in 17x8? As I can’t find anything listed online.

I think it will be these or the team dynamics which I have had on my previous cars but the only issue I have with these is I always though they were classed as a fairly light wheel. Online they say the 17x8 is from 9kg so I know it’s slightly wider than stock but isn’t that roughly the same weight and they list the 17” & 18” as the same weight. 

Does anyone know of any of decent 17x8 that will be lighter than stock? Not fussed on going super light and expensive would like to keep it under £1000. That’s why I picked these 2 as I’m sure the TD’s will be on a Black Friday offer somewhere

i do also like the 949 6ul but I don’t know anything about these, are they strong? My car is used everyday as a daily driver planning some track days in the future

thanks for any input

 

 

Are you interested in a set of 17x7.5 Rota Boosts? They're a fair bit lighter than the standard wheel and I have a set for sale at the moment.

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1 minute ago, lintgfx said:

Not really you'd want a narrower wheel in order to save unsprung weight. I'd rather go slightly quicker if I was seriously competing rather than a "better feeling" car with a sharper response. Fair enough if you enjoy the way it makes your car feel but don't go trying to say the car will actually be better in a competitive environment because of it. 

Yes really. I run a light weight forged wheel that is 1.8kg lighter than a stock wheel despite it being an inch wider. Feel is everything in competition of course. It will be better because of it. That's the point! 

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5 minutes ago, Lauren said:

Yes really. I run a light weight forged wheel that is 1.8kg lighter than a stock wheel despite it being an inch wider. Feel is everything in competition of course. It will be better because of it. That's the point! 

But you'd go faster on a narrower wheel (of the same style/make). Or if you had a wider tyre on your current wheel. Using the narrowest tyre that still fits to spec on your wheels is just wasted weight for the sake of feel which is obviously fine on a road car or in a less competitive series but don't go spreading misinformation about how it's what people in competition prefer because it's absolutely not.

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2 minutes ago, lintgfx said:

But you'd go faster on a narrower wheel (of the same style/make). Or if you had a wider tyre on your current wheel. Using the narrowest tyre that still fits to spec on your wheels is just wasted weight for the sake of feel which is obviously fine on a road car or in a less competitive series but don't go spreading misinformation about how it's what people in competition prefer because it's absolutely not.

I'll leave it to experts like you. You're welcome. ;) 

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Just now, Lauren said:

I'll leave it to experts like you. You're welcome. ;) 

Thanks for the sarcasm but it's common sense. You're literally making yourself slower for the sake of feel which is personal preference and then claiming it to be what everybody should be doing.

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1 minute ago, lintgfx said:

Thanks for the sarcasm but it's common sense. You're literally making yourself slower for the sake of feel which is personal preference and then claiming it to be what everybody should be doing.

It's not common sense at all, but never mind. It's through years of experience both on the road and in competition that I know that. 

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Well that made interesting reading, a subject that has been talked about so many times and no real conclusion has been reached. My OH has got light weight 17" wheels on her 86, I drive it on track and don't feel it is any quicker than my 18" heavier wheels but the feel is vastly different. An average driver probably will not notice much outright change where a touring car driver ( for instance ) may well feel the change in pace straight away. 

Probably best to buy what you like and to suit your type of driving, it would be pants if we all had the same wheels ;)

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It all "depends".

For example on slow speed auto-x with many transitions/turns even our cars may benefit from most grip they can get, in addition to that of grippier compound also including wider tire widths. On HPDE/track driving with faster speeds and less turns stock limited NA power limits more, thus extra side grip is offset by slowed down acceleration from more rolling inertia of heavier tires & wheels and more rolling resistance.

Also depending on mods. For example if one installs forced induction, then cons of heavier wheels & tires is felt less, but extra grip in turn from wider tires may help. Also with forced induction speeds will be higher, thus also heat put into tires (the more track oriented tires are, the more their grip depends on temps too, seriously underperforming, if one cannot get enough heat into them for best grip, which is possible scenario with very wide tires but slow speed due lack of power, as wider tires need more heat put into them to heat up. (Anybody remembers as exaggerated example TopGear ep with Hamster driving F1 car too slow, and needing to drive back to pits to heat tires, due otherwise dangerous lack of grip on too cold tires from too slow driving?)).

Another thing that may enhance or hurt performance might be gearing change via eg. different ratio FD. On some tracks shorter gearing may better laptimes, on others - result in worse ones due possibly extra gear switches with such ratio needed, depending on specific track layouts.

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If car is used all year round and weather in country is such, that there are "real" winters, for winter use i'd advocate narrow 16" winter wheel & tire set. Cheaper tires, better grip on ice/snow, more comfort/bad road compliance, and lost steering sharpness .. it will be lost from soft rubber compound and moving around small rubber patches of winter tires anyway. Many 16" wheels clear our stock brakes.

To keep stock twins characteristic of lively car/fun to drive even at low/legal speeds, if power is still FA, imho worth not straying far from stock tire sizes of 215-225 R17. Wheels are still light, good performance tire choice in 17" sizing, tires are cheaper, steering is sharp enough, good enough brake clearance for aftermarket BBK options, and simply by choosing grippier tires one may add enough extra grip for most uses. For budget conscious we have "free" stock 17 set. :)

If one's goals specifically target auto-x .. still 17, but eg. 235-245 and of "cheater tires"/"one lap wonders" type, eg. RE71

"Real racing" .. given unlimited choice by regulations & budget, racing teams usually choose smallest wheels they can, that have wished tires for that size and that still clear brakes that are used. There is also bit, that if results differ by split seconds and competitiveness is very high, then every slightest advantage counts is worth gaining upper hand at. Forged wheels set for $4K? Will net just 0.2s per every lap? Sure!! But as tires are single most important component for almost any car, in many race classes/race monoseries, tires (and sometimes wheels) are regulated of specific size and often manufacturer & model, to up/level competitiveness, limit budget, be according sponsorship.

If one has forced induction, it may make sense to go a bit wider. Also with FI often one installs BBK, and some of those either may require more limited wheel choice to clear them, so sometimes R18 wheels in addition also may make sense.

18" in general imho might be not that bad choice with something slightly better vs 17", something slightly worse, nor cons nor pros not outweighting by much. I guess, more of subjective thing/choice, though personally i lean to 17".

19-21" with thin & expensive "rubber skin" .. cons outweight almost not existing pros (except looks thing, but looks of such is very subjective, and many dislike), and if such big & heavy barrels are fitted to underpowered car known for good handling that will take a hit, to me it would hint that owner doesn't like car for what i like and is more of poser that pays own money to make car perform worse, in same way if i'd see twins with too wide tires, hella-stance too lowered, hella-camber and alike "trends".

Staggered tire/wheel choice not worth going for in all cases, due long list of cons i'm too lazy to write and no pros except simply being able to put slightly even wider maximally tires in rear due wheel arch clearance and misconception that if it's done on some supercars, it will be better on ours too or subjectively will make owner closer to driving supercar that one will never afford.

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To each his own. Everybody has different preferences. Just thrown some info to lessen cases of justifying some arguable choices with upping performance, when in reality those will not.

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Well that escalated quickly :ph34r::lol:

 

My 2p worth is that I have used 225 on a 7J wheel and currently run 225 on an 8.5J wheel.

 

regarding driver feedback and feel I agree with @Lauren the big tyre on narrow rim just felt spongy and did not inspire confidence. The big wheel with the same size tyre is razor sharp and inspires confidence. Therefore making me quicker I would assume.

Although this does not take into account acceleration as my wider wheels are heavier then the stock ones so the car is slower in that respect. However feel, enjoyment and corner speed big wheel for the win :D find me a forged light rim the same weight and it will be win all round!

Look at a lot of competitive race cars and most run wide rims to match the tyres.

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Nothing wrong with slight stretch within reasonable limits. It removes some sidewall flex and may make steering feel a bit sharper with some tires. It won't help completely and in all cases (eg. with winter & all season tires most probably no matter stretch, steering will still feel mushy), also these days good performance selection at reasonable prices and good availability is much better then in long past ago, with average tire profile being lower, and average tire sidewalls being stiffer. Problems come when one goes to unreasonable hella-stretch levels, because in some groups of people what was once done to counter some drawbacks of tires of few decades ago and to save money on buying normal tires instead of performance race tires, turned out to dumb "scene" "cool" levels with actually compromising handling and safety. Another reason i've seen unreasonable stretch levels, is when people overlowered car too much or installed too wide wheels .. so using that unsafe stretch only to not rub on wheel arches. But one thing is purely show car, not driven anywhere, but i doubt people can enjoy if on high speed track (or even on highway/public roads) someone in front has unexpectedly tire debeaded/separated from wheel due overstretch+high loads.

From here, "safe" width ranges, 225 seems "max" reasonable for 7, within "ideal" range of 7.5 & 8" wide rims, and "min" for 8.5, so should be fine safe tire mount wise, and does what you wanted, removed some slack from tire sidewall flex. I'd probably wouldn't try to fit it on even wider then 8.5 though.

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Can always rely on Church for some thorough answers :lol:;)

Don't plan on going any wider I just had 225 to hand so thought I would see what they were like and was pleasantly surprised. tempted to try some 235/40 next as they are due replacements but don't want to increase the diameter any further and feel if I like it as it is so why change?

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All I’ve done the last few days is look at more wheels. Have narrowed it down to my final 2 sets Enkei rpf1 17x8 like the look of these and are strong and lightweight. The other is a set of rays 57DR 18x8.5 really like these too but can’t decide between the light Enkei or the bigger and heavier rays. 

Will i notice much difference between these? Car is driven daily but I do like a nice hard drive at times and am planning on doing some track days next year.

can you get lower profiles in wider 17s as the extra sidewall is the only thing I’m not keen on, but I think 225/45 is a popular size around here so it can’t be to bad can it?

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